29 October 2007

From the Soldier side: One of the best "jobs" I was on, was in Bosnia. It was beautiful country, nice folks, and lots of guns and explosives still floating around. The photo is what was supposed to happen when weapons were turned into SFOR. I did read some news accounts of some ending up in other countries later on---even Iraq.

28 October 2007

From the Soldier side: When asked: "CI-Roller dude, did you know any heros in Iraq?"I have to answer with "I knew a bunch."I my opinon, anyone who was willing to go out into Baghdad everyday just to do their job was a HERO! We had a few who didn't want to go outside the wire, but we had a bunch more who did. This is one of the teams. Their faces are blacked out for Op-Sec. What is a hero? Someone who does what has to be done when nobody else can or will do it.

24 October 2007

From the Soldier side: (sorry I'm not doing more stuff from the cop side, but this stuff is more exciting.) My good long lost friend Sgt Grumpy is working his mission in Iraq now. (see one of the blogs below for the link). I pray he stays safe and does not become as grumpy as me. Some folks asked why I "volunteered" for Iraq back in 04. I mean I'd just returned from one deployment and I was supposed to not have to deploy for a whole year. Well, our Battalion commander really needed us. (yeah, he just needed bodies) He swore that: "If you go now, at least you get to go with your own unit." Wow, that sounded good. To deploy to Iraq with my buddies-- many whom I'd deployed to Bosnia with. Some I'd been with for over 4 years. Then, as soon as we got to Kuwait, they gave a bunch of us to a regular army unit. Oh well...they were just as "ate up" as any Guard unit.

The reason I volunteered.... my wife was having PMS the day I needed to sign the papers. Just kidding. I felt it was my duty.

19 October 2007

From the Soldier side: When asked: "CI-RollerDude have you ever had a fun deployment?" Well, don't tell our command, but Bosnia was the most fun job I ever had. I couldn't figure outhow some soldiers who deployed with ushated being there and were scared to death.We did suffer from greedy, self serving leaders,But my job was the best you could have in theUS Army.

16 October 2007

From the Soldier side:The person who got me interested in writing a blog will soon be going to Iraq. His blog is http://sgtgrumpy.blogspot.com/Sergeant Grumpy was deployed with us to Bosnia (SFOR 14) and is one of the best soldiers I ever worked with as well as being one of the best humans I know. He's the kind of guy who would do anything for a friend or a fellow soldier. Sgt Grumpy's blog for today talks about leaders. It seems he had at least one good one. With all the humor we try throwing out, I can be honest about one thing...good leaders are very very hard to find. I'm talking about leaders, not managers. I my lines of work we need leaders...not desk jockeys. A leader knows how to do the job and can do it better than those he or she is leading. A leader knows those who work for him or her and knows how to get those who follow to do the job. The good leader has people who ENJOY working for the leader and would not want to work with any other. This is something you can't learn in a school...you can learn how to do it better, but the basics are not learned. Check Sgt Grumpy's blog....he's talking about a good leader. If you don't understand, then move out of the way and let someone else lead.

This many people came here by mistake

Great Quotes in History---

"Some of us were put here to help others....I'm not sure what some of those Others were put here for."

“The US Army usually gets things right….but only after screwing things up a few times to get there.”

"Don't do anything half-ass...if you're going to be a screw up, do it right and do it all ass!"-Some First Sergeant in Iraq“His career choice is to be a martyr. Let’shelp him meet those objectives before he can do any harm to our guys.”

"US ARMY: Breaking things and hurting people since 1775"Before a war military science seems a real science, like astronomy; but after a war it seems more like astrology"Men. We're going into Fallujah today...so I want you to eat a full breakfast-everything, eggs, bacon, coffee, oatmeal, toast, milk, eat as much as you can. Because...you can't shit your pants in fear on an empty stomach."- CI Roller Dude in Dec 04.

OIF 3: "The cost of Freedom is HIGH! (About $1million per trooper per year)

SFOR 14-, the second to last season... "Stupidity got us into this mess....why can't it get us out?" Grenades: when throwing up stairs or up hill, gravity is your enemy.

Remember: "The Cops are only 6 minutes away---when you need them in 30 seconds."

“Never before in the history of mankind, have so few done so much for so many who didn’t give a shit”-CI Roller Baghdad, Iraq 2005.

Remember...half the people you know are below average!

Life is tough...it's tougher if you're stupid!

Never before in the history of mankind have so few done so much with no leadership, whilst so many did so little and still got paid~ SFOR 14, Bosnia 2003-04